...this
dark tale, based on a true story, follows the naive Stefan
(Klaus Grunberg) in his pursuit of offbeat American Estelle
(Mimsy Farmer) to the island paradise of Ibiza. He leads a
seemingly idyllic life with her by the sea - where the
scenic beauties and delights of LSD and nude sunbathing are
fully revealed by Nestor Almendros' stunning photography -
before succumbing to the destructive trappings of heroin
addiction.

Schroeder was conscious that in the climate of the time some
might see the film as moralizing against drugs but he was
adamant that this was not his aim. In a 1969 interview*, he
described More as 'the story of someone who sets out on a
quest for the Sun and who is not sufficiently armed to carry
it through successfully... I did not want to deal with the
drug problem; I used drugs in relationship to the
characters. Drugs only interfere as an element in a
destruction, only as a motor in a sado-masochistic
relationship between a boy and a girl... If my film is
against anything, it is against attachments, illusions,
selfishness, egotism, alienation... I have no compassion for
my hero. Someone who destroys himself is very unattractive
to me.'

Originally released by the BFI in
2003, Barbet Schroeder's "More" remains today one of the most
iconic films from the late '60s. Telling the story of Stefan, a
German hitchhiking his way through the continent, and Estelle, a
carefree but troubled spirit, the film follows the two as they
drop out of their lives, move to the isle of Ibiza and spend
most of their time frolicking nude and partaking in recreational
drug use. However, their time together takes a turn for the
worse when Estelle takes up her old heroin habit and introduces
Stefan to the drug as well. Despite their best effort to clean
up, a local doctor sinisterly feeds their addiction and the two
soon find their island paradise to be anything but. This was my
first time viewing the film, and I have to say that it was quite
interesting. Although I'm not sure that its the masterpiece that
some make it out to be, it was nevertheless a very good movie
that featured wonderful cinematography, great performances buy
its two leads, and an evocation of the general zeitgeist that
few other films about the counterculture of the time can match.

There are some unfortunate issues with the image, but I'm
willing to bet that most of the problem lies with the original
print. As you can see in the screencaps, the image tends to be
slightly murky with a rather soft level of clarity. However,
I've seen speculation online that the film was originally shot
on 16 mm film stock (imdb lists it as 32 mm, but they aren't the
most reliable source for technical information). If this is so,
then it would explain some of the image's weakness. However, the
story is not all bad news. Unlike the region 1 disc (which I
haven't seen), the film is presented in its original aspect
ratio of 1.66:1. While the transfer is non-anamorphic, the
widescreen formatting sufficiently preserves the director's
vision. I should also note the the lighting differs greatly from
scene to scene. With the desire to use only natural lighting,
the indoor sequences simply aren't as well illuminated as those
that take place outdoors in full sunlight. Consequently, some of
the scenes are a bit darker than others.

With this release, the BFI chose
to use Dolby Digital 1.0 for their audio track. The sound on the
disc is good, but not great. Even with a bump up to 2.0 (never
mind 5.1), Pink Floyd's soundtrack would have likely come across
as truly gorgeous. As it stands, the mono track is acceptable,
but lacking the extra mile that fans of the music would
appreciate. The good news is that there doesn't seem to be any
unwanted background interference (hisses, cracks, pops, etc.) to
interfere with fan's enjoying the music. The choice to use burnt
in subtitles also strikes me as an odd one, as I've never seen
that on a BFI disc before. Were they found in the print that the
BFI used for their master? I'm really not sure, but as you can
see the non-English dialogue (in this case French and German) is
subtitled with bulky and boxed in lettering that can obscure the
main image on the screen.

The extras on this disc are fairly light. Aside from a
theatrical trailer, there a few features. First, we get about a
20 second look at an original poster with that image being all
that is on screen during that time. Second, there's a short
biography of Schroeder as well as a print interview with him on
the making of the film that is genuinely illuminating. Finally,
instead of the booklet that we usually get with the BFI's
releases, there's an excerpt from an original review of the film
as well as long quote from Schroeder on the film, and a one page
insert featuring the poster and chapter information.

While I can't speak for the quality of releases elsewhere in the
world, I must admit that this one doesn't stack up well against
some of the BFI's best efforts. It is a good film that deserves
to be seen and for that reason I'll recommend this release, but
I can only imagine what it would look and sound like if it were
given a full restoration. Perhaps that's not in the cards, but
in the meantime this is a satisfying alternative.

Note: I've just received word from the BFI that a few second of
dialogue concerning drug use were excised from this released by
the BBFC.